Best Cheap Gaming Laptops

 

One of most common questions I get is which budget gaming laptop is the best. It is a hard question to answer since affordable means something different for everyone. So at this point I would ask what is your budget?

To accommodate as many readers as possible we have included multiple price level in the post below and will include links to full lists of gaming laptops within that price range.

Using this method I will show you best gaming laptop for each bracket.

Obviously the best gaming laptops overall are going to be more expensive. But we have done a lot of digging to find value that will still perform reasonably well for you in most circumstances.

Under $1,000 – ASUS ROG GL552VW-DH71

Features:

  • Quad Core i7-6700HQ 2.6 GHz (Turbo 3.5 GHz)
  • GeForce GTX960M GPU with 2 GB RAM.
  • 16 GB DDR4 RAM.
  • 1024 GB HDD Disc
  • 15.6-Inch Full-HD IPS Display.
  • Windows 10.


The ASUS ROG is a 15.6 inch laptop with full HD IPS Display. It offers better contrast and angle view. It has a good design. it looks different compared to its predecessors. The ASUS ROG was inspired by the F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighter offering an angled line surface for a powerful and dynamic look.

The ASUS ROG has a Quad Core i7-6700HQ clocked 2.6GHz with turbo, that can increase the processor speed up to 3.5 GHz. Asus is the only laptop in this price range that has 16GB ultra-fast DDR4 RAM that gives you a lot of free space to run even the most demanding games and you will still have plenty of RAM left for background processes. As for the GPU, it comes with a powerful GeForce GTX 960M with 2GB RAM which can be compared with GTX 870M. This technical specification should allow you to play any current game on high setting and it will also allow you to play most of the games that will be released in the next couple of years. It has a 1 TB disc.

The laptop also has plenty of useful ports: it has 3 USB 3.0 ports and ports for headset and mic. To connect an external monitor you can use the Mini Display or HDMI port. For internet connection you have a Gigabit Ethernet port and 802.11 A/B/G/N Wi-Fi for wireless connection.

By looking at this product, it is quite evident that ASUS learned its lessons after their previous generations on the laptop. This is because they have a weaker TN display. Now, they have upgraded their device, and they use the IPS display. All the small upgrades to their product line have continuously made their laptops great. The ASUS ROG is an almost perfect gaming laptop for under $1000 and the only thing ROG missing is the SSD Disc. The good news is that you can do this by yourself after you have purchased. The bottom line is that it is a perfect laptop to buy at that budget.

Ok, there is one more disadvantage – the price can be a little higher than 1000$, it can vary between 999 and 1099 dollars. Read full review >>

Features:

  • Quad Core i5-6300HQ 2.3 GHz (Turbo 3.2 GHz)
  • GeForce GTX960M GPU with 4 GB RAM.
  • 8 GB DDR3 RAM.
  • 256 GB SSD Disc
  • 15.6-Inch Full-HD Display.
  • Windows 10.


Dell Inspiron has a long history of producing very innovative laptops. The i7559-763BLK has been a popular model among gamers. The machine provides 15.6-inch full FHD , Wide-Angle 1920 x 1080 display.

The i7559-763BLK sports the Intel i5-6300HQ Quad-Core processor whose speed can be boosted from 2.3GHz to 3.2GHz. It features dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M graphics with 4GB of fast GDDR5 VRAM.

The machine has 8GB of DDR3L RAM and 256GB Solid-State Drive to accommodate all your files. It is shipped with the new Windows 10 operating system. Though it may not have all the firepower of other high-end gaming laptops, it actually offers more than enough for the price.

Features:

  • Dual Core i7-5500U 2.4 GHz (Turbo 3.0 GHz)
  • Radeon R9 M375 GPU with 2 GB RAM.
  • 16 GB DDR3 RAM.
  • 1024 GB HDD Disc with 8GB ssd cache
  • 14-Inch Full-HD Display.
  • Windows 10.

Frankly, the looks and design of this gaming laptop is absolutely amazing. First of all, it has a 14 inch display. It is running on the latest i7 Broadwell processor which is equipped with turbo boost technology that will definitely deliver the speed you require for high end gaming.

This machine boasts of 2GB AMD Radeon graphics card meant to provide you with the best gaming experience.

It also features a 1TB HDD that will give you enough storage space and with SSD cache for speed. The laptop has an amazing 16GB RAM making it one of the best cheap gaming laptop that you can find in the market. It can run lots of applications at the same time. It uses Windows 10, 64 bit operating system.

Under 600 – ASUS X550ZE-DB10

Features:

  • Quad Core AMD A10-7400P 2.6 GHz (Turbo 3.5 GHz)
  • Radeon Dual graphics R7 M265DX with 4 GB RAM.
  • 8 GB DDR3 RAM.
  • 1024 GB HDD Disc
  • 15.6-Inch Display with 1366×768 resolution.
  • Windows 8.


In this model, Asus gives the user some serious competition against other top gaming budget laptops. This one has a display measuring a generous 15.6 inches. In addition, it has some real gusto with an AMD A 10 7400 P 2.5 GHz quad-core processor. It gives users the convenience of Turbo-Boost needed when playing high-end games.

It also features a mind-numbing dual graphics Radeon R7 M 265 DX. You get 8 GB of ram and a whole terabyte of 7200 RPM hard drive. This laptop comes with Windows 8.1 already installed, but it can easily be upgraded to Windows 10 for more features.

Features:

  • Quad Core AMD A10-7300 1.9 GHz (Turbo 3.2 GHz)
  • Integrated Radeon R6 M275 GPU
  • 8 GB DDR3 RAM.
  • 1024 GB HDD 5400 rpm Disc
  • 15.6-Inch 1366×768 pixels Display.
  • Windows 8.1


The Dell Inspiron design is nice. It features a 15.6-inch screen with 1366×768 resolution which is standard in this price range. It has a pretty decent viewing angle but unfortunately it has a glossy display screen and it is hard to use it in sunlight. But this is very common problem in this price range.

The Dell Inspiron laptop has a Quad Core A10 processor with integrated Radeon R6 GPU, 8GB RAM and 1000GB hard disk. It has the very best integrated GPU available in gaming laptops under 500. The R6 performance is comparable to GeForce GT720.

Why have I chosen the Dell Inspiron as the best cheap gaming laptop? Inspiron has definitely the strongest available GPU of any laptops at this level and GPU is THE most important part of any gaming laptop. A10 processors are inferior to Intel’s i5 processors but integrated R6 GPU beats Intel’s solution by far, none of Intel’s integrated graphic cards can compare to the R6, even the ones in much more expensive I7 processors.

My Recommendation:

The computing power of any laptop can fall behind current technology quickly over time. So we will always recommend that you buy the most powerful processor you can afford.

With this in mind, from the gaming laptops included above the ASUS ROG GL552VW-DH71 will be our personal choice for the money.

But this post is for those on a budget and we hope to have provided you with something that is within reach.

Do You Have a Specific Budget in Mind?

If you already know how much you want to spend then make sure you check out our detailed reviews of the best gaming laptops to suit any budget. Our most popular price ranges are below: